Vent: That hidden rot behind a window took me 3 full days to find

I was chasing a musty smell in a kitchen remodel and just couldn't locate the source. Ended up tearing out three layers of trim and drywall before finding the rot hiding behind the flashing on a south-facing window. Has anyone else had a moisture issue that took this long to track down?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_sean1mo ago

Read a building science article once that said south facing windows take the most weather beating, especially if the flashing was done sloppy. Three days sounds about right for a hidden leak like that though. Had a buddy who spent a whole week on a similar issue, turned out the rot was running down the sheathing behind a finished wall. Sometimes the smell is the only clue you get until you start pulling things apart.

amymason1mo ago

Honestly, I'm not totally buying that it's always that dramatic. South facing windows take a beating sure, but three days of work for a leak that's basically just a smell? Sounds like someone was dragging their feet or charging by the hour. My neighbor had a slow leak behind his siding for like a year before he even noticed, and one afternoon with a caulk gun and some new flashing sorted it out. Sometimes people make it sound way more complicated than it is. Unless you're dealing with a full-on waterfall inside the walls, I'd say calm down and check the easy stuff first.